Not recognizing external hard drive

Mar 21, 2011 9:14 PM in response to Weeblerock

Well after a couple hours of reading about other peoples suggestions, and trying multiple computers in an effort to solve the mysterious low powered Apple USB port issue with External hardrives, I decided to try something. Many external HD's come with a Y cable for connecting the drive to 2 separate USB ports. Usually, the side of the cable with 2 USB connections is the side used to connect to the computer and the side of the cable with one connection gets plugged into the HD. This is usually a hassle because (#1)Even if your laptop does have 2 USB ports together they are usually internally hubbed together and (#2) most 15" and 13" apple laptops have usb ports that are to far away for the Y cable to reach.....UNTIL...... I decided to flip this cable around and use it backwards. Now the end of the cable with a single connector is NOT plugged into the HD it is plugged into the laptop. The Y side of the cable is now facing the HD with the main end plugged into the HD and the shorter tail piece (usually the thinner of the 2 cables) plugged into the other available USB port. This way works like a champ for me. I would suggest NOT plugging the thinner cable into the HD (I have NOT tested it this way) it seems like this would NOT route the power correctly. Try this if you are having trouble with low power to your External HD.

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cirtap

Level 1

5 points

Mar 23, 2011 9:35 PM in response to Weeblerock

I'm so screwed.

I'm looking at 4 HDD which are all not recognized by my MBP.
I'm running osx 10.6.5, plugged in via usb.
USB ports and cables are working fine with everything else I use them with.
Drives are not BUS powered. I'm even plugging the HDD in a power regulator to make sure it's getting clean, smooth power

One drive was working fine. partitioned one side as time machine and the other as storage.
The Time machine side disappeared, tried to repair disk and now both sides are not mounting.
I have a BRAND NEW 2 TB HDD and enclosure. I was able to see them before I formatted them for use. After formatting them, I no longer see them. Not on the desktop, Disk Utilities or disk warrior.
It's not the HDD's. BRAND NEW!

I even returned them and got a new set just to make sure.
Something is wrong with my MBP, not the HDD's.

this has been going of for over 1.5 years. Nobody has a clue on what is going on. I'm really ****** off that I'm loosing all of my data because Apple hasn't fixed this problem.

I will send $25 via Paypal to the first person who posts a fix to my problem.
Please help

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Mar 24, 2011 5:51 AM in response to cirtap

Over the past 1.5 years, a variety of people have reported problems with external drives. However, they have not reported the make and models of the drives, or enough detail to believe there is a problem on Apple's side, further they have often not reported which model of mac they are using.

One thing that I did see noticed is that people are apparently using these drives out of the box. This is a bad idea. These drive manufacturers cater to windows and ship their drives formated FAT32 or NTFS. The Mac can work with these formats and so the manufacturers figure that it is fine to ship them this way. This is not a good idea.

Whenever you get a new hard drive for your mac, MAKE SURE it is formatted as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".

Apple is nice and will let you work with other formats for the most part because sometimes you need to read data written by a PC, and they need compatibility to run windows on your Mac.

NTFS is a poor attempt at a modern filesystem, and FAT32 is a very poor filesystem. You should not use either if you can escape it (and certainly not for something like backing up!)

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Apr 7, 2011 3:16 PM in response to lysander-spooner

I am using both a Lacie HD and a Time Capsule for backup. My 2008 Macbook Pro does not recognize either of them. My Lacie is connected via a USB and my Time Capsule is connected wirelessly. I used Carbon Copy to back up on my Lacie and I used Time Machine to Back up on my Time Capsule. The Time Capsule still works as a router.

I am so frustrated. This seems to be a software issue, but I am unsure if it is a MAC update. I cannot remember what program I added when the problems began. Can anyone suggest how to determine when programs were added?

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crmfyi

Level 1

0 points

Apr 14, 2011 7:33 PM in response to Weeblerock

I had the same issue with my WD 1 TB drive that I used as a Time Machine backup drive. About a month ago, it stopped recognizing my drive and I thought it was the hardware that wasn't working. After reading this thread, I went into the Disk Utility and saw the drive there. I did a Verify, which failed and it said I'd need to wipe the drive and start over. I then decided to try the Repair option in Disk Utility which ran for about 20 minutes and in the end, it recognized my disk and I'm back up and running. I went into Time Machine and all my previous backups are still there. Kind of freaked me out to see the drive disappear, but fortunately, I was able to get it all back.

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sbvet1

Level 1

5 points

May 10, 2011 3:30 AM in response to crmfyi

I'm having a similar problem. I have a WD 500GB external HD, formatted for Mac. Now the HD doesn't show up in Finder anymore.

Disk Utility sees the HD but it is greyed and named "disk2s2" instead of its name.

The options Mount and Eject are not greyed in Disk Utility.

When I click Mount, the option goes grey for a split second and Mount is back to active again, but nothing happens.

When I click Eject, Disk Utility takes 1 minute and then an error message appears, saying the disk couldn't be ejected. Close all applications... bla bla bla... But no file on the HD is selected or used by any other application. Only Disk Utility and Finder (of course) are open.

I ran a Verify Disk: it says "[name of disk] appears to be OK".

But the disk is still "disk2s2" in Disk Utility and it doesn't show up in Finder.

I don't know why Disk Utility recognises the name and sees there's a HD plugged in, but still greyes it out as "disk2s2".

I ran a Repair Disk: Disk Utility is now performing the "Updating boot support partitions for the volume as require" step. It says Estimate time: 2 minutes, but it's been stuck there for about 10 minutes. Should I keep waiting??

Disk Utility sees my HD "499.41 GB WD My Passport 070A ...." not greyed and Formatted: Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then below I see the greyed "disk2s2" (not the disk name) and all the specifications are "-"

The files on the HD are still few (good thing I hadn't filled up the HD yet) and I guess I'll live without them. But I really wonder if I could make the HD show up again because clearly, Disk Utility still recognises it.

Thank you for any help/suggestions!

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sbvet1

Level 1

5 points

May 10, 2011 5:09 AM in response to sbvet1

Update...

After about an hour of hanging with "Updating boot support..." in Disk Utility, I clicked Stop Repair and unplugged the HD.

Replugging it still gave the same problem (showed up in Disk Utility but not in Finder), so I restarted the MacBook Pro and ta-dah.... the HD is back as normal.

I have no idea what has happened. Sorry I cannot be of help if others have the same or similar problems.

(I'm on a Sep. 2009 MacBook Pro 13" 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce 9400M)

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warbirdx

Level 1

10 points

Dec 27, 2011 7:12 PM in response to Weeblerock

I'm not sure what all of the various problems consist of, but my solution and saving grace was Tuxera NTFS for Mac. Give it shot and let me know if it worked.

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Jan 11, 2012 3:37 PM in response to crmfyi

Western Digital Drives Only. 1 Terrabyte My Book FYI Had to go to bottom of last menu, Support Menu, Legacy Products. I suggest that user's go to your own MFG's Website and search. Align Product, OS, and antiviral software recommendations while doing installs and reboots. Unblock applications seeking Internet access. Go!

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1164/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvd GltZS8xMzI2MzIzMjUwL3NpZC82dmo0blZOaw%3D%3D

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onyxj

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2012 9:15 PM in response to Weeblerock

OK, how about this:

I have a '97 Macbook connected directly via Ethernet cable to a brand new iMac (both running Lion 10.7.3)... Connected to the Macbook via Firewire is a WD 500Gb hard drive (own power supply, FAT32) and connected to the WD hard drive via Firewire is an 80Gb Macally HD (powered from USB on Macbook, Mac OS Extended (Journaled)).

The problem is... I can see both the WD and the Macally hard drives on the Macbook, but I can only see the Macally hard drive on the iMac. Both computers are set up to share and I login to the Macbook using the same profile I have logged into the iMac with (from the Finder window).

It is not a cable problem as both external drives are visible on the Macbook and the Macbook and Macally HD are visible on the iMac.

It is not a low power problem as both external drives have their own power sources.

Is it a driver problem? The iMac is basically a copy of what was on the Macbook (I used Migration Assistant to copy the entire computer) so why does the iMac not "see" the WD?

Please help?

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Funkin

Level 1

8 points

Feb 9, 2012 10:07 PM in response to onyxj

Why does the iMac not 'see" the WD?

You are not going to believe me, because I didn't believe it either, but if I can

tell you, you at least will have something to work with that may help you.

First, let's dispell one thing that you are holding dear, and it's this:

"It is not a low power problem as both external drives have their own power sources."

Ready?

One of the power sources is not the correct one, or is and oldie and moldy one and needs to be renewed or refreshed with a new one.

What?

I did this myself. I spent a day and a half installing drivers, reinstalling software, switching cables, mildly pulling my hair out until at last resort, I called WD. The prompts got me through to the

right person for my product. Very nice, cooperative, understanding, sympathetic even.

I was out of warrantee over four years, but the technical support guy told me he's been approved to send me a new power supply, no charge.

After exhausting every techincal trick I knew in the book, reading the correct support sites, and ending up doing the suggestions at the WD website, installing things, and checking cables and connections more than once, I finally surrendered and called technical support.

Please allow three to five days for delivery.

As it was being shipped, I muttered to myself I had the right power supply connected. I kept all of them in a container with my other cameras, digital tablets, old computers and video cameras. I could see the device in the trouble shooter software I used, and the light was on, on the drive. I knew it was fine in there. What would a power supply have to do with it?

It had a whole lot to do with it, as I found out when it arrived..

Five days later it showed up. I plugged it in, booted it, it reinstalled the usb driver and presto change-o, the thing came up without me doing anything. (Did I mention, I rebooted several times, in an order manner, earlier?).

I don't know why, I had a 12v power supply on the external drive, but the tech seemed to have a suspicion that this was the problem, and it was. Maybe they have product support calls and cases on the computer there, and he read that with my product, it turns out to be ninety nine percent of the time, the faulty power.

Funny thing, they sent it to me gratis, free. If I can ever, ever, say a nice word about WD I will say it here:

WD knows what they are doing. Their phone system got me to the right guy. I kept a case number.
Shipping was fast. I called them back and thanked the same guy too.

He was happy. I was happy. Change your faulty power supply with a new one; you'll be happy.

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Mar 22, 2012 7:51 PM in response to Funkin

My issue:

Wife's laptop wouldn't reboot after updating Safari, iTunes, and some other things. Latest updates. 13" 2011 Macbook Pro with Lion upgraded from Snow Leopard some time last summer. Screen would go grey with a revolving graphic and a progress bar, then the computer would shut off.

Tried booting to console recovery and do an fsck -fy. Couldn't repair volume. Tried graphic recovery boot with same result.

Decided to reinstall from Time Machine backup. Couldn't see how to get network connected. Got external drive off of Time Capsule that had backup and connected it to laptop and booted to recovery partition. Time Machine couldn't see hard drive. Frustrating.

Inserted Lion install disk that came with computer. WiFi, external drive both worked. Re-installed from backup.

It seems you need the install disk to have your graphical recovery console work properly.

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Mar 24, 2012 3:03 AM in response to Funkin

My generic hard drive also failed to work, having read through this and several other threads as the cheapest and least disruptive, ie reinstalling op system (this is apple guys) the fault had to be with the external drive

I came across Funkin's response re their WD drive.

I took the part number from old power supply transformer and google soon found me a replacement under £9.00 arrived in two days and Hey presto my external drive now works. 🙂

Cheap resolution to a failed external. Under £9.00 to replace on a 5 year old external.

Thank you Funkin.

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Apr 7, 2012 2:14 PM in response to Weeblerock

Well i was having the same issue i have a wd 1 tb my passport i use as my time machine well like a week ago it just stoped working my mac book pro wouldn't recognise it so i tred and tried odd thing was that it was showing on disc utilityes but not in the finder so after reading this section y plug it in one more time and just unplugged it without unomunting the drive and bamm i got my drive back..weird..

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Talchu

Level 1

4 points

May 29, 2012 1:58 AM in response to l_echeverri

l_echeverri, and others, just for the record, I diconnected my Wester Digital (WD) external Passport drive again and again, and even without a Y cable (USB booster cable), it suddenly was recognized by my MAC (OSX10.6.8).

I guess it has something to do with me skyping WD Support, or vudoo. To support that, WD support guy said to me that it can take time for some macs to recognized the drive and assign proper power to it. Here's a snippet from WD Knowledgbase, too, which supports that:

Mac OSX can read FAT32 drives, however it may take up to 10 minutes (usually much less time is needed) for the OS to evaluate the volume and determine how to interact with it upon initial installation. If you wish, you can wait for the drive to be recognized, at which time the drive will function correctly. The advantage of this format is that the drive should also work on a PC.

I believe formatting the drive in Mac format and using Time Machine could help too, but I'm not willing to loose the compatibility with my PC, yet.

Supplemental: I recognize this problem as something which occurs after diconnecting the drive for long periods of time from my mac. I'll examine this issue further, and will update if I have new info.

Bottom line: Never loose hope.

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